 | The Duke of Guise |  |
ACT III.
SCENE I.
Enter Grillon and Polin.Grill.
Have then this Pious Council of Sixteen
Scented your late Discovery of the Plot?
Pol.
Not as from me, for still I kennel with them,
And bark as loud as the most deep-mouth'd Traytor,
Against the King, his Government and Laws;
Whereon immediately there runs a Cry
Of, Seize him on the next Procession, seise him,
And clap the Chilperick in a Monastry;
Thus it was fixt, as I before discover'd:
But when, against his Custom, they perceiv'd
The King absented, streight the Rebels met,
And roar'd, they were undone.
Grill.
O, 'tis like 'em,
'Tis like their Mungrel Souls; flesh 'em with Fortune,
And they will worry Royalty to Death:
But if some crabbed Virtue turn and pinch 'em,
Mark me, they'l run, and yelp, and clap their Tails,
Like Curs, betwixt their Legs, and howl for Mercy.
Pol.
But Malicorn, sagacious on the point,
Cry'd, Call the Sheriffs, and bid 'em arm their Bands;
Add yet to this, to raise you above hope,
The Guise my Master will be here to day,
For, on bare guess of what has been revealed,
He wing'd a Messenger to give him notice;
Yet spight of all this Factor of the Fiends.
Cou'd urge, they slunk their Heads like Hinds in Storms:
But see, they come.
22
Grill.
Away, I'le have amongst 'em;
Fly to the King, warn him of Guises coming,
That he may straight dispatch his strict Commands
To stop him.
1. Sher.
Nay, this is Colonel Grillon,
The Blunderbuss o'th' Court, away, away,
He carries Ammunition in his Face.
Grill.
Hark you my Friends, if you are not in haste,
Because you are the Pillars of the City,
I wou'd inform you of a General Ruine.
2. Sher.
Ruine to the City! marry, Heaven forbid!
Grill.
Amen, I say; for look you, I'm your Friend:
'Tis blown about you've plotted on the King,
To seize him, if not kill him; for who knows,
When once your Conscience yields, how far 'twill stretch;
Next, quite to dash your firmest hopes in pieces,
The Duke of Guise is dead.
1. Sher.
Dead, Colonel!
2. Sher.
Undone, undone!
Grill.
The World cannot redeem you;
For what, Sirs, if the King, provok'd at last,
Should joyn the Spaniard, and shou'd fire your City,
Paris your Head, but a most Venemous one,
Which must be blooded?
1. Sher.
Blooded, Colonel!
Grill.
Ay, blooded, thou most Infamous Magistrate,
Or you will blood the King, and burn the Louvre;
But 'ere that be, fall million miscreant Souls,
Such Earth-born minds as yours; for, mark me, Slaves,
Did you not Ages past consign your Lives,
Liberties, Fortunes, to Imperial hands,
Made 'em the Guardians of your sickly Years,
And now your grown up to a Boobies Greatness,
What, wou'd you wrest the Scepter from his Hand?
Now, by the Majestie of Kings I swear,
You shall as soon be sav'd for packing Juries.
1. Sher.
Why, Sir, mayn't Citizens be sav'd?
23
Yes, Sir,
From drowning, to be hangd, burnt, broke o'th' Wheel.
1. Sher.
Colonel, you speak us plain.
Grill.
A Plague confound you,
Why should I not? what is there in such Raskals
Should make me hide my Thought, or hold my tongue?
Now, in the Devils name, what make you here,
Dawbing the inside of the Court like Snails,
Sliming our Walls, and pricking out your Horns?
To hear, I warrant, what the King's a doing,
And what the Cabinet Council, then to th'City
To spread your monstrous Lyes, and sow Sedition?
Wild-fire choak you.
1. Sher.
Well, we'll think of this,
And so we take our leaves?
Grill.
Nay, stay, my Masters;
For I'm a thinking now just whereabouts
Grow the two tallest Trees in Arden Forest.
1. Sher.
For what, pray Colonel, if we may be so bold?
Grill.
Why to hang you upon the highest Branches;
Fore-God it will be so; and I shall laugh
To see you dangling to and fro i'th' Air,
With the honest Crows pecking your Traytors Limbs.
All.
Good Colonel!
Grill.
Good Rats, my precious Vermin,
You moving Dirt, you rank stark Muck o'th' World,
You Oven Bats, you things so far from Souls,
Like Dogs, you're out of Providence's reach,
And only fit for hanging; but be gone,
And think of Plunder—You right Elder Sheriff,
Who Carv'd our Henry's Image on a Table,
At your Club-Feast, and after stabb'd it through?
1. Sher.
Mercy, good Colonel.
Grill.
Run with your Nose to Earth,
Run Blood-hound, run, and scent out Royal Murder.
You second Rogue, but equal to the first,
Plunder, Go hang, nay take your tackling with you,
For these shall hold you fast, your Slaves shall hang you
To the mid Region in the Sun:
Plunder, be gone Vipers, Asps, and Adders.
Exeunt Sheriffs and People.
24
Ha, but here comes a Fiend that soars above,
A Prince o'th' Air, that sets the Mud a moving.
Mal.
Collonel, a word.
Grill.
I hold no speech with Villains.
Mal.
But, Sir, it may concern your Fame and Safety.
Gril.
No matter, I had rather die traduc'd,
Than live by such a Villains help as thine.
Mal.
Hate then the Traytor, but yet love the Treason.
Gril.
Why, are not you a Villain?
Mal.
'Tis confess'd.
Grill.
Then in the Name of all thy Brother Devils,
What wou'dst thou have with me?
Mal.
I know you're honest,
Therefore it is my business to disturb you.
Grill.
Fore God I'le beat thee, if thou urge me farther.
Mal.
Why tho' you shou'd, yet if you hear me after,
The pleasure I shall take in your vexation,
Will heal my Bruises.
Grill.
Wert thou definite Rogue,
I'faith, I think that I should give thee hearing;
But such a boundless Villany as thine,
Admits no Patience.
Mal.
Your Niece is come to Court,
And yields her Honour to our Henry's Bed.
Grill.
Thou ly'st, damn'd Villain.
[Strikes him.
Mal.
So, why this I look'd for:
But yet I swear by Hell, and my Revenge,
'Tis true as you have wrong'd me.
Grill.
Wrong'd thee, Villain!
And name Revenge! O wer't thou Grillon's Match,
And worthy of my Sword, I swear by this
One had been past an Oath; but thou'rt a Worm,
And if I tread thee dar'st not turn again.
Mal.
'Tis false, I dare like you, but cannot act;
There is no force in this Enervate Arm.
Blasted I was e're born, Curse on my Stars,
Got by some dotard in his pithless Years,
25
Yet I've Brain, and there is my Revenge;
Therefore I say agen these Eyes have seen
Thy Blood at Court bright as a Summers Morn,
When all the Heaven is streak'd with dappl'd Fires,
And fleck'd with Blushes like a rifl'd Maid;
Nay, by the Gleamy Fires that melted from her
Fast Sighs and Smiles, swoln Lips and heaving Breasts,
My Soul presages Henry has enjoy'd her.
Grill.
Again thou ly'st; and I will crumble thee,
Thou bottl'd Spider, into thy Primitive Earth,
Unless thou swear thy very Thought's a Lye.
Mal.
I stand in Adamant, and thus defie thee;
Nay draw, and with the edge betwixt my Lips,
Even while thou rak'st it through my Teeth, I'le swear
All I have said is true, as thou art honest,
Or I a Villain.
Grill.
Damn'd infamous Wretch,
So much below my scorn, I dare not kill thee:
And yet so much my hate, that I must fear thee.
For should it be as thou hast said,' not all
The Trophies of my Lawrell'd Honesty
Shou'd bar me from forsaking this bad World,
And never draw my Sword for Henry more.
Mal.
Ha, 'tis well, and now I am Reveng'd.
I was in hopes thou would'st have utter' Treason,
And forfeited thy Head to pay me fully.
Grill.
Hast thou Compacted for a Lease of Years
With Hell, that thus thou ventur'st to provoke me?
Mal.
Perhaps I have: (How right the Blockhead hits.)
Yet more to rack thy Heart, and break thy Brain,
Thy Niece has been before the Guise's Mistress.
Grill.
Hell-hound, avant.
Mal.
Forgive my honest meaning.
[Exit.
Grill.
'Tis hatch'd beneath, a Plot upon mine honour,
And thus he lays his Baits to Catch my Soul:
Ha! but the Presence Opens, who comes here!
By Heaven my Niece, led by Alphonso Corso!
Ha, Malicorn is't possible, Truth from thee!
Tis plain, and I in Justifying Woman
26
Alph.
Madam, the King,
Please you to sit, will instantly attend you.
Grill.
Death, Hell, and Furies! ha, she comes to seek him,
O Prostitute, and on her prodigal Flesh
She has lavish'd all the Diamonds of the Guise
To set her off, and sell her to the King.
Mar.
O Heavens! did ever Virgin yet attempt
An Enterprise like mine? I that resolv'd
Never to leave those dear delightful Shades,
But act the little part that Nature gave me,
On the Green Carpets of some guiltless Grove,
And having finish'd it forsake the World,
Unless sometimes my Heart might entertain
Some small remembrance of the taking Guise:
But that far, far from any dark'ning Thought,
To Cloud my Honour, or Eclipse my Virtue.
Grill.
Thou ly'st, and if thou hadst not glanc'd aside,
And spy'd me coming, I had had it all.
Mar.
By Heav'n, by all that's good—
Grill.
Thou hast lost thy Honour,
Give me thy Hand, this Hand by which I caught thee
From the bold Ruffian in the Massacre,
That would have stain'd thy almost Infant Honour,
With Lust, and Blood, dost thou remember it?
Mar.
I do, and bless the Godlike Arm that sav'd me.
Grill.
'Tis false, thou hast forgot my generous Action;
And now thou laugh'st to think how thou hast cheated,
For all his kindness, this old grisl'd Fool.
Mar.
Forbid it Heaven!
Grill.
But oh that thou hadst dy'd
Ten thousand Deaths, e're blasted Grillon's Glory,
Grillon that sav'd thee from a barbarous World,
Where thou hadst starv'd, or sold thy self for Bread,
Took thee into his Bosom, foster'd thee
As his own Soul, and lap'd thee in his Heart-strings;
And now, for all my Cares, to serve me thus!
O 'tis too much ye Powers! double Confusion
On all my Wars; and oh, out, shame upon thee,
It wrings the Tears from Grillon's Iron Heart,
27
Mar.
Sir, Father, hear me;
I come to Court, to save the Life of Guise.
Grill.
And prostitute thy Honour to the King,
Mar.
I have look'd, perhaps, too nicely for my Sex,
Into the dark Affairs of fatal State;
And to advance this dangerous Inquisition,
I listn'd to the Love of daring Guise.
Grill.
By Arms, by Honesty, I swear thou lov'st him.
Mar.
By Heav'n, that gave those Arms success, I swear
I do not, as you think, but take it all.
I've heard the Guise, not with an Angels temper,
Something beyond the tenderness of pity,
And yet, not Love.
Now, by the Powers that fram'd me, this is all;
Nor should the World have wrought this close Confession,
But to rebate your jealousie of Honour.
Grill.
I know not what to say, nor what to think;
There's Heaven still in thy Voice, but that's a Sign
Virtue's departing, for thy better Angel
Still makes the Womans Tongue his rising Ground,
Wags there a while, and takes his flight for ever.
Mar.
You must not go.
Grill.
Tho' I have Reason plain
As day, to judge thee false, I think thee true:
By Heaven, methinks I see a Glory round thee;
There's something says thou wilt not lose thy Honour:
Death, and the Devil, that's my own Honesty:
My foolish open Nature, that would have
All like my self; but ofr; I'le hence and Curse thee.
Mar.
O stay!
Grill.
I wo'n not.
Mar.
Hark, the King's a coming.
Let me conjure you, for your own Souls quiet,
And for the everlasting rest of mine,
Stir not till you have heard my Hearts design.
Grill.
Angel, or Devil, I will—nay, at this rate
She'll make me shortly bring him to her Bed,
Bawd for him? No, he shall make me run my Head
Into a Cannon, when 'tis Firing, first.
28
And if she plays me false, here's that shall mend her.
[Marmoutiere Sits, Song and Dance.
Enter the King.
King.
After the breathing of a Love-sick Heart,
Upon your Hand, once more, nay twice, forgive me.
Mar.
I discompose you, Sir.
King.
Thou dost, by Heaven;
But with such Charming pleasure,
I love, and tremble, as at Angels view.
Mar.
Love me, my Lord?
King.
Who shou'd be lov'd, but you?
So lov'd, that even my Crown, and self are vile,
While you are by, try me upon despair;
My Kingdom at the stake, Ambition starv'd;
Revenge forgot, and all great Appetites
That whet uncommon Spirits to aspire,
So once a day I may have leave—
Nay, Madam, then you fear me.
Mar.
Fear you, Sir, what is there dreadful in you?
You've all the Graces that can Crown Mankind:
Yet wear 'em so, as if you did not know 'em:
So stainless, fearless, free in all your actions,
As if Heaven lent you to the World to Pattern.
King.
Madam, I find you're no Petitioner;
My People would not treat me in this sort;
Tho' 'twere to gain a part of their Design:
But to the Guise they deal their faithless Praise
As fast, as you your flattery to me;
Tho' for what end I cannot guess, except
You come, like them, to mock at my Misfortunes.
Mar.
Forgive you, Heaven! that thought: no, mighty Monarch,
The Love of all the Good, and wonder of the Great;
I swear, by Heaven, my Heart adores, and loves you.
King.
O, Madam, rise.
Mar.
Nay, were you, Sir, unthron'd
By this Seditious Rout that dare despise you;
Blast all my days, ye Powers, torment my Nights;
29
That cou'd not for the Royal Cause like me,
Throw all their Luxury before your Feet,
And follow you like Pilgrims through the World.
Grill.
Sound Wind, and Limb, fore-God a gallant Girl.
[Aside.
King.
What shall I answer to thee, O thou Balm
To heal a broken, yet a Kingly Heart;
For, so I swear I will be to my Last:
Come to my Arms, and be thy Harry's Angel,
Shine through my Cares, and make my Crown sit easie.
Mar.
O never, Sir.
King.
What said you, Marmoutiere?
Why dost thou turn thy Beauties into Frowns?
Mar.
You know, Sir, 'tis impossible, no more.
King.
No more—and with that stern resolv'd behaviour:
By Heaven, were I a dying, and the Priest
Shou'd urge my last Confession, I'd cry out,
Oh Marmoutiere, and yet thou say'st, no more.
Mar.
'Tis well, Sir, I have lost my aim, farewell.
King.
Come back, O stay, my Life flows after you.
Mar.
No, Sir, I find I am a trouble to you,
You will not hear my Suit.
King.
You Cannot go,
You shannot—O your suit, I kneel to grant it,
I beg you take whatever you demand.
Mar.
Then, Sir, thus low, or prostrate, if you please,
Let me intreat for Guise.
King.
Ha, Madam, what!
For Guise; for Guise! that stubborn arrogant Rebel,
That laughs at proffer'd Mercy, slights his Pardon,
Mocks Royal Grace, and plots upon my Life:
Ha! and do you protect him? then the World
Is sworn to Henry's Death: does Beauty too,
And Innocence it self, conspire against me;
Then let me tamely yield my Glories up,
Which once I vow'd with my drawn Sword to wear
To my last drop of Blood? Come, Guise, come Cardinal,
All you lov'd Traytors, come—I strip to meet you;
Sheath all your Daggers in Curst Henry's Heart.
Mar.
This I expected, but when you have heard
30
Perhaps you'll be more Calm.
King.
See, I'm hush'd;
Speak then, how far, Madam, wou'd you Command?
Mar.
Not to proceed to last Extremities,
Before the Wound is desperate, think alone,
For no Man Judges like your Majesty;
Take your own Methods, all the heads of France
Cannot so well advise you, as your self:
Therefore resume, my Lord, your Godlike temper,
Yet do not bear more, than a Monarch should:
Believe it, Sir, the more your Majesty
Draws back your Arm, the more of Fate it Carries.
King.
Thou Genius of my State, thou perfect Model
Of Heaven it self, and abstract of the Angels,
Forgive the late disturbance of my Soul,
I'm clear by Nature, as a Rockless Stream,
But they dig through the Gravel of my Heart;
Therefore let me conjure you do not go;
'Tis said the Guise will come in spight of me;
Suppose it possible, and stay to advise me.
Mar.
I will, but on your Royal word, no more.
King.
I will be easie
To my last gasp, as your own Virgin Thoughts,
And never dare to breathe my Passion more;
Yet you'll allow me now and then to Sigh
As we discourse, and Court you with my Eyes.
Enter Alphonso.
Why do you wave your Hand,
And warn me hence?
So looks the poor Condemn'd,
When Justice beck'ns, there's no hope of Pardon.
Sternly, like you, the Judge his Victim eyes,
And thus, like me, the Wretch despairing dies.
[Exit with Alph.
31
Grill.
O Rare, rare Creature, by the Power that made me:
Wer't possible we cou'd be damn'd again:
By some new Eve, such Virtue might relieve us;
O I cou'd clasp thee, but that my Arms are rough,
Till all thy Sweets were broke with my Embraces,
And kiss thy Beauties to a dissolution.
Mar.
Ah Father, Uncle, Brother, all the Kin,
The precious Blood that's left me in the World,
Believe, dear Sir, what-e're my actions seem,
I will not lose my Virtue for a Throne.
Grill.
Why, I will Carve thee out a Throne my self;
I'le hew down all the Common-wealths in Christendom,
And seat thee on their Necks, as high as Heaven.
Enter Abbot Delbene.
Abb.
Colonel, your Ear.
Mar.
By these whispering Councils,
My Soul presages that the Guise is coming:
If he dares come, were I a Man, a King,
I'd sacrifice him in the City's sight.
O Heavens! what was't I said? Were I a Man,
I know not that, but, as I am a Virgin,
If I wou'd offer thee, too lovely Guise,
It shou'd be kneeling to the Throne for Mercy.
Ha! then thou lov'st, that thou art thus concern'd,
Down, rising mischief, down, or I will kill thee,
Even in thy Cause, and strangle new born pity:
Yet, if he were not married! ha, what then?
His Charms prevail, no, let the Rebel dye.
I faint beneath this strong oppression here,
Reason and Love rend my divided Soul,
Heav'n be the Judg, and still let Virtue Conquer;
Love to his Tune my jarring Heart wou'd bring,
But Reason over-winds and Cracks the String.
[Exit.
Abb.
The King dispatches Order upon Order,
With positive Command to stop his coming.
32
Besides Belleure brought but a half account,
How that the Guise reply'd he would obey
His Majesty in all, yet if he might
Have leave to justify himself before him,
He doubted not his Cause.
Grill.
The Ax, the Ax,
Rebellion's pamper'd to a Plurisie,
And it must bleed.
[Shout within.
Abbot.
Hark, what a shout was there!
I'le to the King, it may be 'tis reported
On purpose thus.
Let there be Truth or Lies
In this mad Fame, I'le bring you instant word.
[Exit Abbot.
Manet Grillon: Enter Guise, Cardinal, Mayen, Malicorn, Attendants, &c. Shouts again.
Grill.
Death, and thou Devil, Malicorn, is that
Thy Master?
Guise.
Yes, Grillon, 'tis the Guise,
One that wou'd Court you for a Friend.
Grill.
A Friend,
Traytor, thou mean'st, and so I bid thee welcome;
But since thou art so insolent thy blood
Be on thy Head, and fall by me unpitied.
[Exit.
Guise.
The bruises of his Loyalty have craz'd him.
[Shouts louder.
Spirit
within Sings.
Malicorn, Malicorn, Malicorn, ho!
If the Guise resolves to go,
I charge, I warn thee let him know,
Perhaps his head may lye too low.
Guise.
Why, Malicorn?
Mal.
[starting.]
Sir, do not see the King.
Guise.
I will.
Mal.
'Tis dangerous.
Guise.
Therefore I will see him,
And so report my danger to the People.
33
But more, more, more, why, Malicorn, again?
I thought a look with us had been a Language;
I'le talk my mind on any point but this
By Glances; ha, not yet, thou makest me blush
At thy delay; why, Man, 'tis more than Life,
Ambition, or a Crown.
Mal.
What, Marmoutiere!
Guise.
Ay, there a Generals Heart beat like a Drum,
Quick, quick, my Reins, my Back, and Head, and Breast,
Ake, as I'de been a Horse-back forty hours.
Mal.
She has seen the King.
Guise.
I thought she might. A trick upon me, well.
Mal.
Passion o' both sides.
Guise.
His thou meanest.
Mal.
On hers.
Down on her Knees.
Guise.
And up again, no matter.
Mal.
Now all in Tears, now smiling, sad at parting.
Guise.
Dissembl'd, for she told me this before,
'Twas all put on that I might hear and rave.
Mal.
And so, to make sure work on't, by Consent
Of Grillon, who is made their Bawd.
Guise.
Away.
Mal.
She's lodg'd at Court.
Guise.
'Tis false, they do belye her.
Mal.
But, Sir, I saw the Apartment.
Guise.
What, at Court?
Mal.
At Court, and near the King, 'tis true by Heaven,
I never play'd you foul, why should you doubt me?
Guise.
I wou'd thou hadst, e're thus unmann'd me, Heart,
Blood, Battles, Fire, and Death, I run, I run.
With this last blow, he drives me like a Coward;
Nay, let me never win a Field again,
If with the thought of these irregular Vapours,
The blood han't burst my Lips.
Card.
Peace, Brother.
Guise.
By Heaven, I took thee for my Souls Physitian,
34
'Tis contradiction; no, my peaceful Brother,
I'le meet him now, tho' Fire, arm'd Cherubins
Shou'd cross my way. O Jealousie of Love!
Greater than Fame: Thou eldest of the Passions,
Or rather, all in one, I here invoke thee,
Where-e're thou'rt Thron'd in Air, in Earth, or Hell,
Wing me to my Revenge, to Blood, and Ruin.
Card.
Have you no temper?
Guise.
Pray, Sir, give me leave,
A moments thought; ha, but I sweat and tremble,
My Brain runs this and that way, 'twill not fix
On ought but vengeance, Malicorn; call the People,
[Shouts within.
But hark, they shout again, I'le on and meet 'em,
Nay, head 'em to his Palace as my Guards;
Yet more, on such exalted Causes born,
I'le wait him in his Cabinet alone,
And look him pale, while in his Courts without,
The People shout him dead with their alarms,
And make his Mistress tremble in his Arms.
[Exeunt.
Scene the Third.
Enter King and Council.[Shouts without.
King.
What mean these Shouts?
Abb.
I told your Majesty;
The Sheriffs have puff'd the Populace with hopes
Of their Deliverer.
[Shouts again.
King.
Hark, there rung a Peal
Like Thunder; see, Alphonso, what's the Cause.
35
Grill.
My Lord, the Guise is come.
King.
Is't possible! ha, Grillon, said'st thou, come?
Grill.
Why droops the Royal Majesty? O Sir—
King.
O Villain, Slave, wert thou my late born Heir,
Giv'n me by Heav'n, ev'n when I lay a dying;
But peace, thou festring thought, and hide thy Wound;
Where is he?
Grill.
With her Majesty, your Mother;
She has tak'n Chair, and he walks bowing by her,
With thirty thousand Rebels at his heels.
King.
What's to be done? No pall upon my Spirit;
But he that loves me best, and dares the most
On this nice point of Empire, let him speak.
Alph.
I would advise you, Sir, to call him in,
And kill him instantly upon the Spot.
Abb.
I like Alphonso's Counsel, short, sure Work,
Cut off the Head, and let the Body walk.
Enter Queen-Mother.
Q. M.
Sir, the Guise waits.
King.
He enters on his Fate.
Q. M.
Not so, forbear, the City's up in Arms;
Nor doubt, if in their heat you cut him off,
That they will spare the Royal Majesty.
Once, Sir, let me advise, and rule your Fury.
King.
You shall, I'le see him, and I'le spare him now.
Q. M.
What will you say?
King.
I know not;
Colonel Grillon, call the Archers in,
36
Stand to their Arms, receive him as a Traytor.
[Exit Grill.
My Heart has set thee down, O Guise, in Blood,
Blood, Mother, Blood, ne're to be blotted out.
Q. M.
Yet you'l relent when this hot sit is over.
King.
If I forgive him, may I ne're be forgiv'n;
No, if I tamely bear such Insolence,
What act of Treason will the Villains stop at?
Seize me, they've sworn, Imprison me's the next,
Perhaps Arraign me, and then doom me dead;
But e're I suffer that, fall all together,
Or rather, on their slaughter'd Heaps erect
Thy Throne, and then proclaim it for Example,
I'm born a Monarch; which implies, alone
To weild the Scepter, and depend on none.
[Exeunt.
The End of the Third ACT.
| The Duke of Guise | |